Yoga

does anybody here practice yoga?

after years of putting this off i've finally had the chance to try. currently i'm just going around doing free or discounted trials at diff studios, planning to eventually choose one. hopefully a good strategy.

recently after a class, i noticed a huge difference in the quality of my sleep that night and the next morning i felt this inner calm that i... have never felt before. like i woke up and my mind was completely blank. it didn't last for very long, but it was nice while it lasted.

i'm a complete n00b, i don't know what anything is called and i also have difficulty following sequences of 5 or more things at first, but everything's good if you manage to get into a flow. the structure of going to class is a bit weird but nice, like guided body meditation. i also really like the environment. i don't know what to compare that feeling to.

oh yeah, i sweat buckets. if the room's a bit heated, it opens up your pores and is good for your skin. (just remember to stay hydrated.)

what i want from this is just stress relief and improvement in strength, flexibility, balance and focus.

your experiences? do you prefer practicing at home or at a studio? (what other questions...?) any resources you'd recommend?

I do. I prefer at home unless I can make it to a stoned yoga or a class that doesn't go too heavy into the bullshit spirituality stuff. I'm mostly just in it for the physical therapy. When I consistently do it my body feels a million times better in every aspect and I sleep like a baby.

I'm really sweaty so even if the room is cooled I'm still going to be dripping but whatever that's what towels are for.

There's lots of good youtube yoga people. I'd just browse and try out a bunch until you find someone you like.

You were into wrestling right? Diamond Dallas Page has his own yoga videos...

Yeah did it once for a good long while. Decided it was basically advanced stretching. Also did Tai Chi, Feldenkrais, Somatics (Hanna), Alexander and a few others.

These all are in the general field of Somatics, which includes Pilates which is what I do now. Of all of them I find Pilates the best as it combines retraining from what life does to you (sitting all the time, etc), with strength training. For an INTP with Si it works very well due to the focus on the internal state and such. Joe Pilates called it the "thinking mans exercise" which is true.

I love yoga. I went to actual classes before I had a kid. I think having a good instructor can be very good at the beginning for setting the tone and the pace and also helping you to physically move your body in ways that might be new to you.

Now I just do sequences on my own or follow yoga videos on youtube. Personally I really like to start the day with a few rounds of sun salutations. I find that, physically and mentally, it helps to put me in a good place.

Someday it would be nice to supplement my personal practice with going to an actual studio again.

Too bad, Lady Une. You were far too lenient.As a soldier, yes. But as a civilian I lived an austere life.

You can't swing a cat here without hitting a yoga studio. I've got one that I've been going to now for almost a year locally, and even one that I've picked out for when I'm in Sydney (which helps me with the whole traveling for work thing which iI despise and put off as much as possible).

In my eyes I want non-pretentious/non-new-age-woo-woo. I have no problem with the actual meditation/mindfulness/visualisation aspects, if anything that's part of the benefit. I'm basically there for flexibility and overall general health, since I think my body is generally given over to tension even though iI feel generally quite psychologically calm. To me, I'm basically doing maintenance to keep things running smoothly.

Back pain and the like are completely gone when iI do it regularly, and honestly muscle tone is improving everywhere.

I'm assuming everyone sweats like the bejesus when they do it, assuming these are the basic flow/vinyasa type classes and not a meditation/yin session. I'm guessing some people have an image of "it's just stretching", but I know I practically leave a puddle on the floor, and getting through the whole thing without needing a rest I'll generally take as an achievement. Still don't have the strength to even get into half the fancy poses, and can't step my hand between my legs without dropping my knees and supporting it there, but whatever, it works.

Another for "useful meditative exercise so long as you skip the woo-woo horseshit". But I need to get back into it. As @Fitz observes, it's useful for general physical therapy--provided you don't have an interfering injury or ailment.

I never noticed better sleep from it beyond what any exertion might do. I sweat buckets easily so can't comment on the normalcy of that.

I have a wind-down routine mixing yoga with some stretching for the gym. I'm thinking it may be too close to bedtime though. For the next week I'll see about an earlier routine, and longer, following along with youtube (I like Adriene fine). Better sleep is usually the goal.

You were into wrestling right? Diamond Dallas Page has his own yoga videos...

lol yeah. somebody was telling me about this the other day, that's pretty cool.

Originally Posted by Faust

I have a wind-down routine mixing yoga with some stretching for the gym. I'm thinking it may be too close to bedtime though. For the next week I'll see about an earlier routine, and longer, following along with youtube (I like Adriene fine). Better sleep is usually the goal.

i haven't been doing this long enough to say for sure but so far, the closer to bedtime, the better. right now i'm doing these winding down "candlelight" classes at this yoga studio from 8:30-9:30pm, it's slower-paced and involves lots of restorative poses while still making me sweat, and i have seriously never found anything that knocks me out so fast. i also have issues with regular consistent sleep and sleep quality (i go to sleep at weird hours, often get up at weird hours and have to work out the energy or bore myself back to sleep which takes a while). yoga has really, really helped.

never thought i'd be saying this, but i love it and i'm so glad i found something that works so well for sleep, as long as i've taken care of everything i needed to do during the day... which is an ongoing issue for me. if i have unfinished business, i'm still staying up, and that is Very Bad.

i've been using this app called down dog and it's really good! i'd recommend it for anybody who wants to do yoga at home. at the beginner level (like me) i'd still recommend first learning the basic poses/flow at a studio or class setting to get the alignments right, though. the instructors' adjustments are really helpful and i don't think i would've intuitively understood if i hadn't been going to class.

i'm just really mad at myself cuz i missed the deal that ended yesterday for yearly subscription (30$/year VS i think 95$/year which is the regular price). the free version is good too, but i really like the features in the paid version. i'm still deciding whether this is something i wanna spend on. i wonder if there's gonna be another deal soon. plz

i do wanna continue going to a studio though cuz it's usually a more intense and focused workout for me. so i gotta get on that.